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Chapter III – Kunwar Singh at Bay in Western Bihar

The action still remaining to be accomplished

I left Sir Colin Campbell master, on the 21st March, of Lakhnao. I propose to narrate now the measures which he adopted to reap every possible advantage from his conquest. Three main objects first presented themselves to his attention. The first was the strengthening of the weak places - which had been threatened during his advance; the second, the formation of a movable column for the re-conquest of western and north-western Oudh; the third, the re-conquest of Rohilkhand. Combined with this last was the necessity of holding out a hand to the brigade of Seaton, left at Fathgarh, and to the columns of Jones and Penny still accomplishing, or about to accomplish, the work which had remained to be carried out for the complete pacification of the North-western provinces.

On the 24th March Sir Colin detailed a considerable force to constitute, for the moment, the garrison of Lakhnao211. The command of this force was intrusted to Sir Hope Grant.

1858

March

Sir E. Lugard is ordered to Azamgarh.

On the 28th the Military Train, the 10th Regiment, and a field battery left for Allahabad. The same day Sir Colin received information of Milman’s disaster near Azamgarh, narrated in the previous chapter. His movement to repair the misfortune was as prompt as could be desired. On the 29th Sir E. Lugard was despatched, with a brigade of infantry (10th212, 34th, 84th), seven hundred Sikh sabres, and eighteen pieces of artillery, by the direct road to Azamgarh, taking Atraulia en route. Whilst

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Lugard would thus relieve Azamgarh, the advance of Jang Bahadur’s force towards Faizabad, on their return to Nipal, would, it was hoped, relieve Rowcroft, whom I left encamped at Amorah.

I propose, in the first instance, to follow the course of Sir E. Lugard. But before setting out with him I may state that there still remained at Lakhnao four regiments of cavalry and eight of infantry, with artillery in proportion, to be accounted for. These were constituted as a movable column, at the head of which was placed Brigadier-General Walpole. To him I shall revert in due course.

March–April

He sets out 29th March

Lugard left Lakhnao on the 29th March. The distance to Azamgarh was fifteen marches. Pushing on as rapidly as possible, he reached Sultanpur the 5th April. It had been his intention to cross the Gumti at this, place, and march direct on Azamgarh. But to carry out this plan would have necessitated a week’s delay. The bridge had been destroyed by fire, and there were no boats. Under these circumstances he resolved to continue his march down the right bank, and to make, in the first instance, for Jaunpur.

and defeats the rebels near Tigra

A few miles only from Jaunpur, to the north-west of it, and on the direct road from Sultanpur, lies the village of Tigra. Within four miles of this village a rebel force of three thousand men, one third of whom were trained sipahis, and two guns, under the command of Ghulam Husen, had appeared on the 10th April, threatening Jaunpur. The following day this rebel force attacked and burnt a considerable village within six miles of Tigra. The afternoon of that day Lugard reached Tigra, and heard of the vicinity of the rebels. He had made a sixteen-mile march, his troops were exhausted, the heat of the day was excessive. He therefore resolved to remain where he was till his men should have rested and the sun be less oppressive. Towards evening, however, he received information that the rebels were on the move. He at once turned out his men, dashed after them, caught and attacked them. The rebels attempted for a moment to stand, but they could not resist the terrible onslaught of the cavalry. After a short resistance, they turned and fled, leaving eighty killed and their two guns on the field. On the side of the victors six sawars were wounded.

April

Death of Charles Havelock

There was but one killed – but the loss was the loss of a most gallant officer, who had rendered excellent service

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during the mutiny. He who fell was Lieutenant Charles Havelock, a nephew of the renowned general.

Lugard marched on the next day to Didarganj, relieved the Gurkhas at Jaunpur by three companies of the 37th Regiment, Azamgarh and then pushed on for Azamgarh. On the 14th he was within seven miles of that place.

Plans of the British garrison

Azamgarh was still invested by the force under Kunwar Singh, computed to be thirteen thousand strong; but, if that leader had been unable to force his way into the British intrenchment when it was occupied by Milman’s small force, still less was he capable of making an impression upon it after the reinforcements from Ghazipur and Banaras had reached the place. Indeed, the British garrison had been so greatly increased that, had it taken the field, it might have ended the campaign at a blow. Colonel Dames, who commanded, was, however, restrained from action by the express orders of Sir Colin, and directed to await in his intrenched position the arrival of Sir E. Lugard. The rebels, therefore, still occupied the town, and still threatened the intrenchment. On the approach of Lugard, on the 16th, Kunwar Singh drew up his forces along the banks of the little river Tons213, commanding the bridge of boats across it, and resolved to dispute the passage.

April 15

Plans of Kunwar Singh

But the wily chieftain had matured plans far deeper than even those about him could fathom. He knew very well that the soldiers who had failed to stop the small force of Lord Mark Kerr would have no chance against the more considerable brigade of Sir E. Lugard. He therefore so arranged his forces that, whilst those upon whom he could most depend should defend the passage of the Tons as long as possible, the great bulk, traversing the town, should march with all speed to the Ganges, and, crossing that river at or near Ghazipur, should endeavour to reach his native jungles at Jagdispur, there to renew the war.

Lugard forces the passage of the Tons

Lugard attacked the rebels with great vigour. But for some time he failed to make any impression upon them. They held the bridge of boats with a resolution and perseverance worthy of veterans, and it was not until they had by their long resistance ensured the safety of their comrades that they fell back. Lugard then crossed the

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Tons, and at once detached half a troop of horse artillery, the Military Train, and two squadrons 3rd Sikh Cavalry in pursuit.

Death of Mr. Venables

In this action Mr. Venables, the indigo-planter, always to the front, always daring, and always, from his intimate acquaintance with the country, eminently useful, was severely wounded. To the regret of every soldier, he died of his wounds. He had rendered splendid and unpaid service to his country. In the earlier days of the mutiny, when all had been clouded and gloomy, he had set a noble example to everybody, and, when his station had been abandoned by the civilians, had shown the power of preserving order which even one resolute Englishman can wield in India. Honour be to his memory.

The rebels retreat, but are not beaten

The rebels had taken every advantage of the firm resistance made by their comrades at the Tons, and the pursuers had a gallop of twelve miles before they caught sight of them. And when they did see them the sight was far from reassuring. Instead of a defeated and scattered host seeking safety in flight, they came upon a body of men retiring unbroken and in good order. There were the men of the old Danapur brigade, of the 7th, 8th, and 40th Native Infantry covering the retreat of a large body of followers. But the pursuers did not hesitate. They charged – to make, however, no impression. “It was all we could do,” wrote one of the officers engaged, “to hold our own against such odds. Immediately our cavalry charged they stood and formed square, and used to abuse and tell us to come on.”

The pursuers make little impression upon them

The loss of the British was considerable. Hamilton of the 3rd Sikhs, a very gallant officer, was wounded and unhorsed when charging the squares. As he lay on the ground, the rebels cutting at him, Middleton of the 29th Foot and Farrier Murphy rushed to his assistance, and succeeded in rescuing his body, which otherwise would have been cut to pieces. The wounds Hamilton received were, however, mortal. Ultimately, by great daring, the British forced the enemy to fall back; but they fell back in perfect order, leaving only three of their guns in the hands of the assailants, who had completely failed to break them214. The British, therefore, halted

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at Nathupur, where they had fought, watched the enemy disappear in the direction of the Ganges, then sent their killed and wounded into Azamgarh, with a request for reinforcements.

Lugard sends Douglas in pursuit

Lugard, after crossing the Tons, had pitched his camp, and, drawing to himself the garrison of Azamgarh, was preparing to move actively against two rajahs, allies of Kunwar Singh – who, after the battle, had taken a northerly direction towards Oudh – and to watch the reuniting portions of Ghulam Husen’s force.

April 16-17

But, the moment he received the report of the pursuing column halted at Nathupur, he detached Brigadier Douglas at the head of a wing of the 37th, the 84th, one company Madras Rifles, four guns Major Cotter’s battery Madras Artillery, two 51-inch mortars, to reinforce them. Douglas started at once, and reached Nathupur that night (16th April).

Kunwar Singh halts at Naghai

Meanwhile Kunwar Singh had halted at the village of Naghai, about fourteen miles from Nathupur. The reasons which influenced Kunwar Singh, at so critical a conjuncture, to discontinue his retreat, cannot be divined. It is fair to believe, however, that knowing, from the custom of his enemy, he would be pursued, he hoped to be able to strike that enemy a blow so disabling as to permit him to continue his retreat without further molestation. Certain it is that he had occupied a strong position, and arranged his forces with considerable skill. Occupying groves of large trees, he had covered his front with breastworks, and had disposed his guns so as to reap the greatest possible advantage from their working.

Douglas attacks him there

Here Douglas found him on the morning of the 17th, and here he attacked, him. But again did Kunwar Singh display great tactical ability. He kept Douglas at bay till he had secured two lines of retreat for his main columns, which he had divided.

Kunwar Singh falls back skilfully

He then fell back leisurely, and, though many of his men were cut up, they maintained to the end of the day their determined and orderly attitude.

April 17–20

As soon as Douglas’s pursuit – continued for four or five miles – relaxed, the two divided columns reunited, and took up a position for the night.

Douglas pursues

Douglas lay that night at Ahusi, within six miles of the rebels. Early next morning he started again in pursuit. But the rebels had been equally prompt,

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and marched that day without molestation to Nagra215, eighteen miles distant. They were followed all day by the British cavalry and horse artillery, but the infantry did not come up in time to permit Douglas to engage. He encamped that night within three or four miles of the enemy’s position. But Kunwar Singh was well served by his spies.

and Kunwar Singh retires

No sooner had he heard that the British had halted for the night than he broke up his camp, marched to Sikandarpur, crossed the Ghagra by the ford near that place, and pushed it on to Manohar, in the Ghazipur district. There he and his followers halted, wearied and hungry, hoping they might have time for sleep and food before their pursuers should appear.

Douglas tracks and at last reaches him

But Douglas was determined to allow them little time for either. At midnight on the 18th he heard of their at move towards Sikandarpur. At 2 o’clock in the morning he was on their track, and marching all day, picking up many stragglers as he proceeded, he bivouacked that night within four miles of Kim war Singh’s position. He did not rest there long. Hoping to catch the enemy, he turned out his men at a very early hour on the 20th, and, marching rapidly, found himself at daylight in front of his still resting enemy.

April 20

Douglas completely defeats the rebels at Manohar

That position was neither so strong nor so well chosen as that at Naghai. The defence consequently was less determined, and the disaster was greater. Douglas advanced his infantry under cover of a fire from his guns, at the same time that he threatened the enemy’s right with his cavalry. The rebels made no stand, but fled in disorder, leaving on the field a brass 9-pounder gun, several limbers and waggons, an immense quantity of ammunition, a large amount of treasure, a number of carts and bullocks, four elephants, and the colours of the 28th Regiment Native Infantry, which were found wrapped round the body of a Subahdar who was shot. The rebels were pursued for six miles, but, in pursuance of a preconceived plan, their several columns took different routes, to reunite again at a given hour of the night at some settled spot. Where this spot was Douglas found it impossible to discover. Accordingly,

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when darkness set in, he bivouacked, prepared to move early on the morrow.

Kunwar Singh eludes Cumberlege and crosses the Ganges into Bihar

But Kunwar Singh had displayed his customary subtlety. His object was to cross the Ganges. He had impressed on the country people and on many of his own following, that having no boats it would be necessary to cross the river on elephants, of which a certain number still remained. By this report he hoped to deceive the English general. But, meanwhile, he had, by means of his agents, collected a sufficient number of boats at Seopur Ghat216, seven miles below Ballia. When, therefore, night fell, he marched off to this point, and outwitting Colonel Cumberlege, who, with two regiments of Madras cavalry, was waiting to pounce upon him at Ballia, succeeded in embarking all his men except two hundred before the British appeared on the scene.

April 21–22.

Douglas, indeed, had started in pursuit at 2 o’clock in the morning, but, misled by the false information circulated by Kunwar Singh, he only reached the right track in time to cut off the two hundred men of whom I have spoken, to capture some elephants and another brass gun, and to sink one – the last – of the enemy’s boats.

He retires to Jagdispur

Kunwar Singh thus crossed the Ganges in safety. He made his way without delay to his ancestral domain at Jagdispur. Here he found his brother, Amar Singh, with several thousand armed villagers ready to support him. Kunwar Singh posted these and the few men who, after crossing the Ganges, had adhered to his fortunes, in the jungles covering his castle – the same thick jungles which Vincent Eyre had forced on the 12th August of the preceding year.

But if, as I have already had occasion to remark, there was no William Tayler to exercise a vigilant supervision over the several districts of western Bihar, neither was there a Vincent Eyre to retrieve the errors of the Bengal Government. It happened that Arah was at this time occupied by a party of a hundred and fifty men of the 35th Regiment, a hundred and fifty of Rattray’s Sikhs, and fifty sailors of the Naval Brigade, the whole under the command of Captain Le Grand of the 35th.

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Captain Le Grand resolves to attack him

Le Grand, knowing well what Vincent Eyre had accomplished in the same locality; how, with a smaller force at his disposal, he had beaten an enemy certainly not less numerous and far better armed and disciplined than the enemy now occupying the same position, determined, if possible, to emulate his example.

April 23

Accordingly, on the 23rd April, he marched from Arah with the force I have mentioned, and two 12-pounder howitzers. Early on the morning of the 23rd he came upon the little army of Kunwar Singh. It consisted of about two thousand men, dispirited, badly armed, and without yiem attacks guns. It occupied the thick jungle, about a mile and a half in depth.

He attacks him

Le Grand began the action with a fire from his two howitzers. These, however, seemed to make no impression on the enemy, and the infantry were then brought up to make the charge which, when they are well led, has never failed against Asiatics. The exact course of the events which followed has never been clearly explained. But this is certain, that at a critical moment of the advance into the thick jungle, when the men in extended order were about to rush forward with a cheer, the bugler sounded the retreat.

and is completely defeated

By whom the order to sound was given, or whether it was intended to sound the retreat, is not known. The effect of it on a scattered body of men unable to see each other was to cause irretrievable confusion. To repair it Le Grand used every means in his power, but in vain. The evil had been done. The men fell back in disorder, followed by the enemy, and, abandoning the howitzers, fled to Arab. The 35th suffered very severely. Two-thirds of their number, amongst them Le Grand and two officers, were either killed217 or died from heat-apoplexy on the retreat. The gunners, refusing to retire, were killed at their guns. The disaster was complete.

Brigadier Douglas crosses into Shahabad

This disaster threw the district once more into disorder. A panic ensued at the station of Chapra, and expresses were sent from to Brigadier Douglas, urging him to cross the river without delay. Douglas, whose incessant pursuit of Kunwar Singh without tents had tried his men to the utmost, had been inclined, when the rebel chief had escaped his clutches, to wait till his

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heavy baggage should arrive. But, on receipt of the expresses from Danapur, he crossed the Ganges, 25th April, at Sina Ghat, pushed on the 84th Foot and two guns to Arah on the 29th, and followed himself two days later.

Death of Kunwar Singh

But, before Douglas could act against the rebels, a material change had taken place in the conduct of their affairs. Whether Kunwar Singh was wounded at the action fought at Manohar, or, whether, as some of his followers aver, as he was crossing the Ganges, this is certain, that immediately on his arrival at Jagdispur he underwent amputation of the wrist. He was an old man, and the shock was too much for him. He died three days after he had defeated Le Grand.

Amar Singh succeeds him

Kunwar Singh was succeeded by his brother Amar Singh. Though hardly the equal of his brother in military skill, Amar Singh was not one whit behind him in energy and resolution, and the manner in which he conducted the operations which followed left little to be desired in a partisan leader.

May

Douglas waits the arrival of Lugard

The rebels, after defeating Le Grand, had followed up their victory by an attack on Arah. Though repulsed, they still continued to threaten it, and, as their numbers were daily augmenting, Douglas thought it advisable to await the arrival of Lugard, who had warned him of his approach.

who arrives early in May

Lugard, who, since I last spoke of him, had remained at Azamgarh, occupied in clearing the surrounding districts, had no sooner heard of Kunwar Singh’s successful passage of the Ganges and the disaster of Le Grand, than he set off with a portion of his brigade, crossed the sacred stream on the 3rd and two following days of May, and marched at once to the neighbourhood of Arah.

Plans of Lugard

The news he received there led Lugard to believe that the rebels, who were reported to number eight thousand, were intrenching themselves in the jungle between Bihiya and Jagdispur. He resolved, therefore, to occupy with his main body a position in front of the western face of the jungle, guarding Arah with a detachment, whilst Colonel Corfield, commanding a small force at Sasaram, should march from that quarter to his aid.

Lugard reached Bihiya, on the 8th, sent back thence the detachment to guard Arah, and then marched on the 9th to a

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Lugard occupies Jagdispur

plain a little to the west of Jagdispur. Here he intended to halt to await the arrival of Corfield. But the enemy’s action forced him to change his plan. On the afternoon of that day Amax Singh, covering his movement by a threatened attack on Lugard’s camp, marched from the jungles with the bulk of his following in the direction of Arab. Forced, then, to attack at once, Lugard checked the advance on torah with his cavalry and guns; then, dividing his force into three columns, he drove the enemy before him, and occupied Jagdispur. In this operation he did not lose a single man killed, and only a few were wounded. The rebels fell back on Satwarpur, a village in the jungle district.

The day following, Lugard, sensible of the necessity of following up his advantage, set out in pursuit. On Progress of the 11th he was joined at Piru, seven miles south-west of Jagdispur, by Corfield, who, fighting almost the campaign. daily and always successfully, had made his way from Sasaram. That same day he surprised and defeated the rebels at Hatampur. From this date, skirmishes were of daily occurrence. On the 12th, Lugard beat the rebels at Jathin, whilst Corfield drove them from Duvim. On the 20th they were again beaten, though they managed to kill an officer, Dawson, of the Military Train. Lugard, however, avenged his death on the 27th by inflicting a crushing defeat upon them at Dalilpur, recapturing the two howitzers they had taken from Le Grand. On this occasion he did not lose a single man.

The persistent dispersion of the rebels

But these victories did not crush the rebellion in the district. On each occasion the rebels, knowing every inch of the country, dispersed to reunite in nearly the same The strength as before.

only to reunite

Dividing themselves into small parties, they organised a system of freebooting, dangerous to life and property, and threatening to on the stations, the peaceful villages, and the isolated posts all over the country. It was impossible to wage a war of extermination. Yet the jungles offered the rebels a means of defying for a series of mouths disciplined soldiers led by skilled. and capable generals.

They defy pursuit, until a new scheme is devised by a staff officer with the force

In vain were their positions marked, encircled, and then marched upon from different quarters. The smallest delay on the part a new scheme of one of the converging columns gave the rebels the opportunity, of which they were ever prompt to avail with the themselves, to escape. Nor was it until the genius

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of a staff officer serving under Douglas devised a plan, based upon his experience of its efficiency elsewhere, that a certain means was attained for the extermination or expulsion of the persistent rebels. The nature of that plan will be developed in the pages which follow.

They harry the district

After the defeat at Dalilpur on the 27th, the rebels broke up into small parties, and commenced their new trade of marauding on a large scale. One party attacked and destroyed an indigo factory near Duntraun, another plundered the village of Rajpur near Baksar, a third threatened the railway works on the Karamnasa. These proceedings spread dismay and disorder throughout the Shahabad district.

Lugard again defeats them

In the campaign up to the point which I have now reached, the British troops had suffered greatly from the heat and exposure to the sun. But, in the presence of the occurrences just recorded, Lugard was compelled to keep them actively employed. To facilitate their movements and to lessen the chances of the escape of the enemy, he set to work to intersect the jungles by roads.

June

On the 2nd June, he divided his force into two parts, the one at Keshwa, the other at Dalilpur, opposite points on the edge of the jungle. Between these he cut a broad road.

but many escape

Occupying this with a line of posts as a base, he attacked the rebels from the outside on the 4th, and defeated them with great slaughter, the 10th and 84th showing great dash and daring. But still many managed to escape.

Lugard resigns his command from ill-health

It would be tedious to follow the course of every skirmish; to show how Douglas pursued the rebels with energy and vigour towards Baksar, and how the main body yet managed to elude his pursuit; how they again and again baffled Lugard. He could beat but could not crush them. He had not, in fact, the means of maintaining a continuous and crushing pursuit. The rebels, therefore, though repeatedly beaten, were able to rally at a distance and return by a circuitous route to the corner of the jungle. But, by the 15th June, Lugard had so far succeeded that the rebels had been expelled to a further distance from the jungles than had ever been the case previously, and he was able to report that the task entrusted to him had been practically completed. Wearied and broken down by the unparalleled hardships of the contest, Lugard was in fact forced by the state

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of his health to resign his command and proceed to England. The troops were then ordered into quarters. But they had scarcely retired from the field, when the rebels, strong in a conviction of real success in the past, and confident that the rainy season would secure them immunity for the four months to come, reoccupied their old positions, their numbers daily increased by recruits from all parts of the country.

June–September

Douglas succeeds him

It was under these circumstances that Brigadier Douglas, C.B., was appointed to succeed Lugard. He had no sinecure. He had not even assumed command when he heard that, owing to the manoeuvres and intrigues of Amar Singh, the rebel prisoners in the gaol at Gaya had been released, and, joined by the police and the convicts, had driven the English into their intrenchment.

Difficulties of Douglas on first assuming his command

This outrage – which was speedily repaired – was followed up by a raid into the station of Arah, the garrison of which had been cunningly enticed away, and by the burning of a gentleman’s bungalow. The civil authority had, in fact, everywhere disappeared.

Douglas devises means to baffle and subdue the rebels

Under these circumstances, the British authorities resorted to stronger measures. First they placed Douglas in command of the whole of the disturbed districts as far as Danapur. Then they augmented the troops under his command to a numerical strength of seven thousand. Douglas began at once to work on a system. He organised strong posts at easy distances from each other in all directions. He located his troops in such a manner that it would be easy to mass them at short notice on one particular point. He sent out trusted Sipahis in disguise to penetrate the designs of the mutineers, and even to bring in their leaders, alive or dead. He continued with great effect the practice, initiated by his predecessor, of covering the jungles with roads. Finally, as a supreme remedy, he elaborated a plan for driving the rebels into Jagdispur, as a common centre, and for there finishing the campaign – as he had every right to expect – by the assault and capture of that stronghold.

Operations are necessarily deferred till after the rains

This plan, it will be observed, involved the deferring of larger operations until October or November. Meanwhile it was necessary to secure the grand trunk road. On this road, which traverses the lower portion the of the district from east to west, and the safety of which was of vital importance to Sir Colin Campbell.

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and his army, large bodies of troops under Colonel Turner, C.B., 97th Regiment, were constantly employed. For the four months that followed Turner was unremittingly engaged on this arduous but necessary service.

The rebels continue active

The rebels on their side were very persevering. Amar Singh reoccupied Jagdispur, and his adherents, in small parties, kept the districts in continued disturbance throughout July, August, and September. They seemed to be ubiquitous. Many places in opposite directions were attacked about the same time. Their principal depredations, however, were confined to the country south of the Ganges and west of the Son river.

in spite of frequent defeats

It is true they met several reverses. On the 9th September, Colonel Walters defeated them at Rampur; on the 20th, Captain French and a party of the 35th destroyed their boats on the Son; on the 14th October, Mr. Probyn, of the Civil Service, and twenty Sikhs, ran up a creek on the Shahabad side of the river and destroyed four large boats defended by three hundred and seventy-five Sipahis and a hundred horsemen – a most gallant performance.

October

Not the less, however, did the rebels continue to threaten Arah; they even attacked the cavalry picket at that station.

Reasons for beginning operations on 13th October

But the end was now approaching. The rainy season was passing away. In one point of view it would have been advisable to defer serious until it had actually operations passed. It was feared, however, and not without reason, that on the complete cessation of the rains, the rebels, thoroughly aware of the preparations made against them, would cross the Son and carry rapine and the sword into the districts which had up to the time been free from their presence. Consequently Douglas resolved to begin operations on the 13th October.

On the 13th October Douglas causes seven columns to converge near Jagdispur

On the 9th of that month he set out from Danapur to carry into execution the plan he had carefully and elaborately devised. The ground was still swampy, and this was likely to prove a material disadvantage in a campaign the success of which depended upon the exact punctuality of arrival at a given point of several converging columns218. But Douglas had

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taken his measures with precision. From several points he set in motion, on the 13th October, seven different columns, the object of all being to drive the rebels before them to the common centre, Jagdispur, there to fall upon them and finish the campaign at one stroke.

The rebels are pressed within the Jagdispur jungles

Success crowned his earlier combats. On the 14th Douglas drove the rebels out of Kirisat. On the 16th, Durnford, leading the Baksar column, defeated them, though after a determined resistance, at Kampsagar. On the 17th Turner’s column headed and defeated them at Piru, and followed hotly in pursuit. These movements had been so thoroughly executed that the rebels, numbering four thousand five hundred, were pressed in on all sides towards the centre, and it was known on the evening of the 17th that they were all within the circle, the outlets on the outer ring of which were watched by the seven converging columns.

Douglas orders the columns to converge on Jagdispur

Douglas believed that he had them, and he had a right to believe it. Nothing but a mistake on the part of one of the leaders of the seven columns could save them, and he had impressed his orders so strongly on those leaders, and had made them see so clearly the issue at stake, that he had every reason to feel confident. He fixed the assault for noon of the following day. The result showed the mistake of reckoning with absolute certainty on the success of a manoeuvre, the threads of which are in the hands of seven men, the failure of any one of whom, whether from accident or stupidity, would spoil the combination. The failure of one man out of the seven effectively ruined Douglas’s well-thought-out plan.

Owing to Colonel Walters’ mistake, the rebels escape

Six of the columns converged punctually to the common centre, only to find the place evacuated. The seventh column, commanded by Colonel Walters of the 53rd, had been delayed five hours by an inundation consequent on the cutting of embankments, and the rebels had escaped by the outlet he had left them!

Havelock’s plan

It was at this period that the staff officer to whom I have alluded in a preceding page submitted to the general a plan which he believed would meet the difficulties of the case. The staff officer, who was no other than Major Sir Henry Havelock, Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General of the force, had, in his experience of Franks’s advance

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without cavalry from the eastern frontier of Oudh to Lakhnao, noticed the enormous service which a few mounted soldiers of the 10th Foot, carrying rifles on horseback, had been able to render.

approved and adopted

Conceiving the idea, some time before Douglas had set out from Danapur, that the services of a few men might be advantageously utilised in a similar manner, he had caused forty riflemen of the 10th Foot to be hastily trained by Captain Bartholomew of that regiment. He now proposed to Douglas, to employ the men so trained as mounted infantry – as men, that is to say, who could pursue and overtake the enemy, then, dismounting, hold them in check till the main force should arrive. Douglas gave his cordial assent.

Havelock sets out

Whereupon Havelock, first increasing the forty men to sixty by volunteers from the 10th, set out to head the rebels, who, he learned, were marching towards the Son. He took with him three troops of the Military Train and sixty cavalry as supports.

The plan of his campaign

The orders given to Havelock were to endeavour, by a forced march, to interpose between the rebels and the Son, whilst two columns of infantry should be despatched in the same direction, one to the north, the other to the south, of their line of flight, so that, should he succeed in turning them, they would find themselves surrounded.

Havelock heads the rebels

Havelock set out from his post near Jagdispur at a little past 8 o’clock on the night of the 18th; he reached Arah at 1 o’clock in the morning of the 19th, halted there for six and a half hours, and, starting again at half-past 7, reached the Son before the rebels. The latter, finding themselves headed, halted, remained irresolute for twelve hours, and then retraced their steps south-westward.

who try to escape by pushing westward

Havelock’s mounted column followed, maintaining by patrols a constant communication with the infantry detachments, and guiding their movements. The mutinied Sipahis, now fairly aroused to a sense of their danger, . put forth their best efforts to out-march their pursuers, and, after an ineffectual attempt to re-enter the Jagdispur jungle, pushed directly westward. The pursuing mounted riflemen were sadly embarrassed by rice-fields, inundated to a depth of from one to two feet, making one continuous swamp for miles. These the rebels on foot avoided by moving along the “bandhs,” or ridges used to confine the water. Still Havelock gradually gained on them. On the afternoon of the 29th of

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The mounted riflemen overtake them

October he overtook their rear-guard of four hundred infantry near Nonadi, and succeeded, by a rifle-fire maintained by dismounted men on two faces, one directed on the main body, the other on the rear-guard, in cutting off the latter from the former, and hemming it into the village till Colonel Turner’s infantry column should arrive.

and cut them up

Turner then stormed the village, and slew three hundred rebels. About a hundred, the balance, dashed out in sheer desperation, but they were at once “ringed” in an adjoining field by Havelock’s mounted riflemen, who shot them down till their numbers were so reduced that the supporting cavalry, bursting in on them, sword in hand, sabred almost every man. Only three or four, amongst whom was Amar Singh himself, disguised, found safety in a neighbouring cane-crop. This was the most effective blow that had been struck against the Shahabad rebels. Its success is to be attributed solely to the use of the new mounted riflemen, without whose presence the enemy would, as on every former occasion, have escaped unscathed through their superior speed.

The main body of rebels had meanwhile continued its flight, after several doubles, finally due west. Following on its track, Havelock again overtook it after a forty miles’ march, on the afternoon of the 21st.

Havelock resumes pursuit, and overtakes the rebels

The infantry column, under Brigadier Douglas’s personal command, guided by reports from the mounted rifles, had been able to follow the foe in straight lines from point to point of the his numerous twistings and doublings, so that, when the Sipahis, thoroughly fagged, halted that afternoon to cook, it was sufficiently near to be expected to take part in the combat. Havelock’s column approached the rebels while they were thus employed; but, instead of dashing at them at once, Havelock, very wisely, made a circuit, so as to head them towards Douglas’s infantry. As soon as he had reached the proper point he charged, drove them from their cooking, and, circling them in on three sides with skirmishers, kept them in check for three hours in the plain, waiting for the infantry to come up.

who escape, from the mistake of a guide, and get a ten hours’ start

There was now every hope that the success of the previous day would be repeated, but this expectation was not realised. By a mistake of the person guiding Douglas’s infantry, his column was brought up in the rear of Havelock’s force instead of behind that of the rebels, who at once availed themselves of this error,

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and slipped out of the opening left for them. Evening, setting in at the same time, gave them ten hours’ darkness to cover their flight. But, thoroughly terrified now at finding that they could not shake off their pursuers, they abandoned all attempt to do mischief in the district, and confined all their efforts to the one object of escape. Favoured by the long hours of darkness, and by the whole population of the district, who constantly and systematically misled the pursuers by false information, they marched in the next forty hours sixty-three miles further without being overtaken, making for a range of hills which bound the south-west of the district, and are accessible from the plain only by three difficult passes.

Havelock a third time overtakes the rebels and punishes them

But Havelock’s mounted riflemen, not to be shaken off, again overtook the enemy on the evening of the 23rd. The horses were by this time so exhausted that it was impossible either to head or to charge the rebels, who, drawing up in two solid squares flanking each other, steadily continued their way to the hills. But at every step men and horses fell in their very midst under the long-range rifles of the pursuers, who, while thus inflicting a severe punishment, were themselves beyond reach of the enemy’s muskets. Not a minute but witnessed the capture of baggage-animals, including Amar Singh’s elephant, carrying a howdah containing his suit of chain armour.

Terror of the rebels at the practice of the new Enfield rifle

The rebels continued, nevertheless, their hurried flight to the Kaimur hills′219. But so great had been the terror inspired by the new arm, now for the first time in India employed against them, and from which escape seemed impossible, that even the telegraph wire, which it had always been their main object to destroy, remained uncut along the trunk road which they crossed in their flight; and the whole of the British depot establishments there – of vital importance to the regular supply of troops and stores to the army under Lord Clyde – remained uninjured. Havelock’s loss in this singular pursuit, which covered two hundred and one miles in five days and nights, was only three men killed and eighteen wounded. But forty-three horses died of fatigue. The rebel loss in the three actions of the 19th, 20th, and 21st

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October was not less than five hundred killed, including those hemmed in and subsequently destroyed by Colonel Turner’s column at Nonadi.

Success of Havelock’s plan of mounted riflemen

Oct. – Nov

Thus sixty men, organised on a novel plan, and aided by a handful of cavalry, had effected, with almost nominal loss, in five days, what three thousand regular troops had for six months failed to accomplish – viz. the plan of complete expulsion of four thousand five hundred rebels from the province, and the infliction on them of a punishment the impression of which has not to this day been effaced. When once the inhabitants of the district became aware that the enemy was opposed by troops against whom they could not only hope for no success in the field, but whom it was impossible for them to shake off in flight, their confidence in British power returned, and the restoration of order became an easy task.

Complete collapse of the rebels

Meanwhile, the Jagdispur jungle had been cut down and cleared away. The rebels were gradually driven from place to place, their hiding-places being occupied as the pursuers advanced. It is true that in the long pursuit the rebels managed once or twice to pounce upon the baggage of their enemies. But, in its results, the plan inaugurated by Havelock was most successful. On the 24th November Douglas surprised, by a night march, the main body of the rebels at Salia Dahar, in the Kaimur hills, killed many of them, and took all their arms and ammunition. Before the year ended he could boast that the districts under his command had been completely cleared. The campaign had been more trying, more fatiguing than many which are counted more glorious in their results. Never had troops in India made longer, or more continuously long, marches. On one occasion, I may repeat, the British infantry marched twenty-six miles a day for five days; and the average daily march of Havelock’s cavalry was scarcely less than forty miles.

Footnotes

211. Two troops horse artillery; two field batteries; four garrison batteries one company engineers; three companies pioneers. The 2nd Dragoon Guards; the Lahor Light Horse; 1st Sikh Cavalry; Hodson’s Horse; the 20th, 23rd, 38th, 53rd, 90th, 97th Regiments, and 1st Madras Fusiliers; Headquarters 27th Madras Native Infantry; 5th Panjab Infantry.

212. The 10th had started on the 28th en route to England, but were recalled by an express that night.

213. There are three rivers of this name. That mentioned in the text is known as the North-eastern Tons. It is an off-shoot from the Ghaghra.

214. A little after the rescue of Hamilton, a body of rebels dashed forward, with talwars drawn, to cut down a wounded and dismounted trooper of the military trim. Again did Middleton dash forward, drive them back, and, dismounting, place the wounded trooper on his horse.

215. Nagra is a town in the Azamgarh district. It lies forty-five miles to the east of the town of that name on the road to Chapra.

216. The town which gives its name to this ghat, Seopur Diar, is two miles from the northern bank of the Ganges, and five miles north-east from Ballia. which is a flourishing town with a municipality.

217. The casualties were in killed: 35th, a hundred and two men; sailors, nineteen; Sikhs, nine; officers, three.

218. It may be convenient to state that the district in question may be roughly described as a triangle, each side of which measured fifty miles. It was bounded on the north by the Gauges, on the east by the Son, and on the west and south transversely by the hilly districts of Mirzapur.

219. The Kaimur range extends south-west from latitude 21° 40′, longitude 82°, for about 70 or 80 miles. It has an elevation of about 2000 feet. It divides the valley of the south-western Tons, Jabalpur district, from that of the Son, Shahabad district.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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